Surely the most Tumbl’rd comic will be a NEW character book featuring a character who is non-white: MISTER TERRIFIC, by Eric Wallace and Roger Robinson. That tasty cover by J.G. Jones won’t hurt the Tumbling.

Take a look at the list: What do YOU think?

New York Times bestselling writer Brian Azzarello, author of The Joker and 100 Bullets, teams up with the immensely talented artist Cliff Chiang (Neil Young’s Greendale) for WONDER WOMAN #1, an exciting new series starring the DC Universe’s greatest superheroine. The cover to issue #1 is by Cliff Chiang.

Geoff Johns, one of comics’ greatest storytellers, reunites with GREEN LANTERN and BRIGHTEST DAY collaborator Ivan Reis to bring you a thrilling new take on the fan-favorite hero of the sea in AQUAMAN #1. The cover to issue #1 is by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado.

Rising superstar Francis Manapul, fresh off his acclaimed run on THE FLASH with Geoff Johns, makes his comics writing debut in THE FLASH #1, sharing both scripting and art duties with Brian Buccellato. The Flash knows he can’t be everywhere at once, but what happens when he faces an all-new villain who can? The cover to issue #1 is by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato.

BRIGHTER DAYS

Welcome to a major new vision of the Nuclear Man as writers Ethan Van Sciver and Gail Simone team up with artist Yildiray Cinar to deliver THE FURY OF FIRESTORM #1. Jason Rusch and Ronnie Raymond are two high school students, worlds apart – and now they’re drawn into a conspiracy of super science that bonds them forever in a way they can’t explain or control. The cover to issue #1 is by Ed Benes.

Batman writer Tony Daniel will team up with artist Philip Tan (GREEN LANTERN: AGENT ORANGE, THE OUTSIDERS) for THE SAVAGE HAWKMAN #1. Carter Hall’s skill at deciphering lost languages has led him to a job with an archeologist who specializes in alien ruins – but will the doctor’s latest discovery spread an alien plague through New York City? No matter the personal cost, Carter Hall must don his cowl and wings and become the new, savage Hawkman to survive. The cover to issue #1 is by Philip Tan.

Oliver Queen is an orphan who grew up to fight crime as the Green Arrow, a billionaire playboy who uses his fortune to become a superhero – able to fight the most powerful super-villains in the universe with nothing but a bow and arrow. JT Krul will write GREEN ARROW #1 with art by superstar artist Dan Jurgens. The cover to issue #1 is by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund.

GLOBAL JUSTICE

A team of internationally-drafted superheroes fight each other and their bureaucratic supervisors as much as they do global crime in JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #1 from writer Dan Jurgens and artist Aaron Lopresti. The cover to issue #1 is by Aaron Lopresti.

The world’s third-smartest man – and one of its most eligible bachelors – uses his brains and fists against science gone mad in MISTER TERRIFIC #1, the new series from writer Eric Wallace and artist Roger Robinson. The cover to issue #1 is by J.G. Jones.

Captain Atom has all the power in the world, but no hope of saving himself. Charged by nuclear energy, possessing vast molecular powers, he has the potential to be a god among men – a hero without limits. But the question is this: Will he lose himself in the process? JT Krul and artist Freddie Williams II take the character in a bold new direction in CAPTAIN ATOM #1. The cover to issue #1 is by Stanley “Artgem” Lau.

BRAVER AND BOLDER

The anthology series gets a new look in DC Universe Presents, a new series that will focus on multi-issue story arcs each featuring a different superhero from the DC Universe’s rich cast of characters, told by some of comics’ most exciting writers and artitsts. DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS #1 kicks off the first arc of the series: a Deadman story by Paul Jenkins and Bernard Chang. The cover to issue #1 is by Ryan Sook.

Heidi MacDonald is the founder and editor in chief of The Beat. In the past, she worked for Disney, DC Comics, Fox and Publishers Weekly. She can be heard regularly on the More To Come Podcast. She likes coffee, cats and noble struggle.

My god, what a disaster. Didn’t every fragging DC speaker was telling about how incredible creative teams are going to be? And that’s what they have?

– Three previous Flash relaunches were trainwrecks so they ensure quality of forth relaunch by giving it to artist-writer for his debut (yeah, because whole last year DC’s artists obviously with great success were proving what a great idea is to let them write)

– Tony Daniel still thinks he can write? Just wonder if he can make Hawkman series as dull as his Batman series.

– Dan Jurgens on JLI? Yeah, because he did sucha great job with this team in 90s, right?

– Eric Wallace on Teriffic? Haven’t read a single good review of his Titans work. But he’s a black so it probably makes him qualify to write black character.

– And why blandest of the blandest Krul still getting work… it’s just beyond my understanding.

I don’t care for Manapul’s cartoony style, but the rest of the covers look very impressive. I suspect I’ll purchase about 3/4 of the new titles.

The question for all of us is: can the writers pull this off? Will the stories be interesting enough to bring in a consistent audience? Hawkman, for example, is a character that just hasn’t been engaging enough over the years for most of us to care. The summary of the first story arc sounds promising, but will it have enough action? What can it lead into?

Looks Like I will be picking up Justice League, Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Woman and more than likely, Green Lantern so far.
Really hoping that DC will still have Legion and Power Girl books that I still want to read but if not, I still have the back issues.

Been wanting to read and collect comics with these characters for a long time but there was no way I was jumping back into the mess that DC’s been for years.

I’m pretty “meh” on most of these creative teams, between the unproven artists-as-writers and all that JT Krul action. Wonder Woman and DCU Presents* are the only must-buys for me with Aquaman as a solid maybe, though given the artistic talent, I could be convinced to at least pick up the first issues of Flash, Firestorm, and JLI. I honestly don’t see much to get too excited about, but hey, they haven’t announced the big guns (Superman and Batman) yet.

* And if they’re going to do an anthology, why isn’t it called “Action Comics” and keeping legacy numbering? It’s not like the issue number on the cover matters when the stories restart every few issues anyway.

Yesterday I was thinking it might be time to walk away from The Flash for a bit. But Francis Manapul and Brian Buccalleto on the relaunch? Sign me up. Obviously their writing is an unknown quantity, but their art was my favorite part of vol.3.

Also: good move including both Ronnie and Jason in the Firestorm relaunch. Now what can they do to heal the fractured Flash fan base, I wonder…?

The Flash is one of the heroes I wouldn’t touch as a writer, an editor, or reader — although I did watch some episodes of the TV show. He has superspeed, and that’s it. The number of things a writer can do with superspeed in a story are limited, and no amount of rebooting that doesn’t change the power won’t make writing the stories any easier.

That’s not to say the Flash is a bad character. He’s just a limited one.

@Synsidar – really? Isn’t that like saying “Hawkman can only fly”, or “The Atom can only shrink”. A good writer can make any character decent, no matter what the character themself is like. Both Mark Waid and Bill Messner-Loebs did some brilliant writing on Flash, and I’ve just finished re-reading the very fun Geoff Johns run.

I do understand where you’re coming from, I’ve always avoided Thor because I didn’t like the character, but both Straczynski and Simonson did great runs, which I would have missed if I’d not read them just because I didn’t like the character.

I REALLY hope DC is smart with this reboot and makes ALL 52 #1 issues .99 cents. (Which many companies, usually independents, currently do to hook you for the long haul on new titles.)

If each issue is .99 cents, I will try THEM ALL! I swear it. If they reboot 95% of their entire line, and charge $2.99 out the gate for the first issue, they might be dooming a majority of the line. Give everyone the chance to read the first issue and see what they think, DC! .99 cents!

It was long rumored that Evan Van Schiver and Gail Simone were working on a book together. Those rumors had them working on Wonder Woman.

( Although I recall Gail asking about some good Hip Hop suggestions on her forum recently. If it’s for Jason Rusch, I would prefer if they just went with the character liking the same music she likes as opposed to going with the default of black character=rap music. Yet, the suggestions could be for Ronnie as I’m just spitballing.)

Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang on Wonder Woman? The most interesting of the announced creative teams.

Nice to see the spotlight of a non Big Gun getting a book with Mr. Terrific, a character that for nearly 10 years has had a bit of a chance to shine mostly in JSA during…the Geoff Johns year ( hmm).

Can’t help but notice that the writer choosen for Mr. Terrific happens to also be black. Like a lot of things about the announcements, it’s interesting.

Dan Jurgens has a fair amount of work among this group of books.

Savage Hawkman. Reinforces the idea that DC wants to make him known as a gruff, rough and tumble hero. When I watched the episode of Smallville with the Justice Society, I thought to myself about Hawkman “he’s the Wolverine of the group”. The clearly want to sell him as “badass warrior with a lost love” . That’s probably how they would portary him in the rumored Hawkman movie.

The artist/ writer or auteur trend at DC continues with the Flash. I understood with the various Batman books because, well, it’s the god damn Batman. Batman is damn near his own publishing line. With the Flash, a known character tithe larger general public, it could be seen as a small bit of a risk. Then again, it’s not much of a risk compared to a line wide revamp. I loved Manapuls’ art on the Flash as well his brief Adventure Comics Superboy run with Johns plus I’m a Flash fan so, this is one of the books I’ll peep.

DC Universe should get a wide push beyond the Direct Market. People like to claim they want variety. This should be the book to provide it. Start off with a Deadman ( horror/ suspence) arc. Next, have a Nightrunner ( noir/ thriller) arc. Then, have an Amanda Waller ( drama/ political) arc. After that, an Etta Candy ( slice of life) arc. Then, a Kamandi ( dystopian/ sci- fi) arc. And so and so forth. Get rights from all fields, aspiring and established to tell stories of DC characters across the 52.

“I’m hoping this is all “First Issue at 99 cents” — with many of them just being one-shots to “reintroduce” the characters, too.

There’s no way they can really think people would try out 52 books in one month.”

They don’t need everyone to try all the books in one month. Plus, if they follow the pricing digitally that they have been, they will create a secondary jump on point when they drop to $1.99 (or whatever they drop to) digitally.

>> Isn’t that like saying “Hawkman can only fly”, or “The Atom can only shrink”. A good writer can make any character decent, no matter what the character themself is like. >>

Since having super-speed is one more power than most fictional stories have, if having one power makes one a limited character, then surely all those mystery novels that star cops and detectives feature nonexistent characters.

Or maybe who the character is as a person matters at least as much as what physical tricks they can do.

Isn’t that like saying “Hawkman can only fly”, or “The Atom can only shrink”. A good writer can make any character decent, no matter what the character themself is like.

I agree with that, up to a point. A good writer can do a good job with any decently-designed character, but he’s also limited by the character’s design. Superman is an icon, but how many writers outside of comics have ever expressed a desire to write stories about him? His powers and specific vulnerabilities create plot bottlenecks. Avoid using his powers so that you can do a good, affecting story about his relationship with Lois, his self-identity, or something else; the result is a story that can succeed in various ways but isn’t specifically about the hero. It’s not one in a series; it’s a standalone piece.

There’s the same problem with the Flash. Give him to someone who hasn’t handled him before; probably the first ten ideas he would have for stories have been done already. He would either have to strain to come up with something new, or write about little-examined aspects of the character and avoid using the power. That could work for one story, but not a series in which readers expect to see the power on display.

My favorite characters are Marvel’s Dr. Strange and the Vision/Scarlet Witch duo, in large part because they’re well-rounded genre characters who can do a wide range of things. There are no evident flaws or bottlenecks.

The $0.99 price is a nice idea, but more important, I hope DC makes all #1 issues returnable from the Direct Market.

Otherwise, retailers might decide not to stock them in depth, assuming that readers will be going online to get the digital copies, or that fans will jump-off a title. This will become a self-fulfilling prophecy as readers find store shelves empty, and thus go online… both for digital copies and then the collected editions (and possibly the monthly comics via mail order).

If DC wanted to be really ballsy, really wanted to raise the bar, really stick it to Marvel and other publishers, they’d make ALL of the “new diversity” titles returnable up to a certain percent of orders, at a reduced discount of course. DM stores order at the usual discounts, returns get a lower discounted credit.

*SIGH* i was hoping in the reboot we’d see some happy superheroes. everybody is pissed off as they have tiresomely been for years. what’s wrong with these superhero types? count me out. how’s this for an idea i can get behind: a complete moratorium on superheroes and focus on sugar and spike, doodles duck, the three mousketeers, angel and the ape, etc. at least until the superheroes get some therapy or take some happy pills. life’s too short for this violent depressing stuff. my two cents.

Dear DC: Could you please, please, please require that any artist, who has been contracted to depict a character nocking an arrow and/or drawing a bow, RESEARCH that activity BEFORE submitting artwork? I can’t believe how many of them put the arrow on the inside of the bow, just as Green Arrow does in the illustration here. It. Won’t. Work. GA might as well throw the stupid arrow at his target.

Personally (I’m old school, I realize this) if they were to release all 52 issues at $2.99 in comic shops, but then do a .99 cent price digitally, they’d still lose me. I’m just not a digital comics reader, never have been, doubt I ever will be. So here’s to hoping it’s .99 cents across the board (digital and in-store) on all #1’s. Come on, I think Time Warner could take that temporary hit in order to really bring in readers (new and old.)

I can’t imagine them doing .99 cents at release for either, it’d make too big a dent in their dollar share. At a guess I’d say $2.99 physical (I wouldn’t be too shocked at seeing $3.99 w/ added pages in there too) and $1.99 digital. Maybe $1.50 digital for some of the second/third tier books.

They might drop the price at a later date for anyone who picks up later issues and wants to go back to the start.

Package deals would be a great idea as well: for example six #1s for $8 or something like that. In fact, package deals in general are a good idea for digital. If someone buys an issue of Batman, throw in a Green Lantern or Hawkman for 50c or even free, then if they like it they go back and buy the rest.

From The Source regarding Justice League: Those who want a physical copy of JUSTICE LEAGUE to read and collect: Each print edition of the comic book and an individual code for digital download will be wrapped in a poly bag and available for $4.99. Separately, the standard version will retail for $3.99 and the digital version will retail for $3.99.

Both digital and print editions of DC’s comics will have parity pricing for the first four weeks of release; thereafter, the digital titles drop in price down to our standard 1.99 digital price point. Oversized issues, including JUSTICE LEAGUE #1, will start at $3.99 and drop to $2.99 after four weeks.

WAIT WAIT THEY’RE BRINGING BACK JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL? Like, for real? With Dan Jurgens? Okay, I’m sold. Even if I hate every single other thing about Flashpoint, at least I can drown my sorrows in this little puddle of awesome.

Also, Mr. Terrific gets a series! I’ve always found JSA, er, a little slow for my tastes, but Mr. Terrific is wonderful. Here’s hoping the comic does him justice! And, you know, people buy it. Since apparently even professional comics reporters don’t know who he is. (Always a bad sign.)

“Francis Manapul, fresh off his acclaimed run on THE FLASH with Geoff Johns, makes his comics writing debut in THE FLASH #1 sharing both scripting and art duties with Brian Buccellato.”

Wait: fresh off the Flash, he’s on the Flash…? Can you use the expression that way? “I’m fresh off of my old job at McDonalds, and proud to be starting this new job at McDonalds.” That phrase doesn’t sound right, in this context.

Well DC is already off to a bad start with me by handing the reigns to Flash to Manapul the guy who sabotaged it.

I was really hoping that they would get a top writer and artist on the book to capitalize off the buzz from Flashpoint. But it looks like the people running DC really have no clue what to do with that book.

All they need to do now is ruin Green Lantern and i’ll be taking another 10 year vacation from their books. Man and here I was hoping the new DC would learn from the old one’s mistakes looks like that was wishfull thinking.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!! Can you believe the clowns that draw that character?? Not everyone that draws GA needs to be able to handle a bow, but HOW HARD IS IT TO FIND A PICTURE OF SOMEONE USING ONE????

I thought “hey, Dan Jurgens can actually DRAW, something we haven’t seen in a GA artist in forever!!” and lo and behold… gets it wrong the first time out. I have faith he cares enough to get it right though. I can’t believe Mike Grell and Neal Adams are the only artists around that can do GA correctly!